A devastating wildfire near Kelowna, B.C, appears to have jumped Okanagan Lake, triggering evacuations of a university and bringing added pressure to already strained firefighters.
The University of British Columbia Okanagan was put on evacuation order Friday as embers from the McDougall Creek wildfire rained down across the city of Kelowna. The city's international airport also shut its airspace Friday to aid aircraft fighting the nearby wildfires.
Cliff Chapman, director of wildfire operations for the BC Wildfire Service, said his people are working closely with the local fire department to try to suppress the fires on the east side of the lake, where at least two fires are burning north of Kelowna.
On Thursday night, wildfire entered West Kelowna, burning a number of homes. Officials have yet to give a clear tally of the damage.
“I’ve been in BC Wildfire Service my entire career, over 20 years, and there's only a few dates that stick out for me as dates that will always be engraved in my head. Yesterday was one of those days,” Chapman said Friday.
“We knew the weather was coming, we knew it was going to have a big impact on the fires, and it did, and now we're seeing the catastrophic impacts of fires can have as they interface with communities, critical infrastructure and humans.”
'Critical 36 hours'
Chapman described a nightmare wildfire scenario across the province as powerful winds, hot dry weather and lightning strikes combined to send fires raging out of control. In many cases, Chapman said, crews couldn’t keep up.
The “very fluid” wildfire situation across B.C. roared to life Thursday night as fires that had been dormant suddenly breached containment lines and crossed highways, Chapman said.
BC Hydro’s Chris O’Riley said that has contributed to some outages but that the province’s electricity “backbone” was still intact.
Highway 1 was closed from Hope to Lytton after the Kookipi creek wildfire rushed into the Fraser Valley, sending flames up to 500 feet in the air. A plume of smoke from the fire was so large it triggering concerns in Metro Vancouver of a volcanic eruption, Chapman said.
At least 22 wildfires have started over the past 24 hours, raising the number of wildfires to 382 across B.C.
Sustained winds are expected through the weekend in what Chapman said was a “critical 36 hours on all of our fires.”
Across the province, more than 4,500 people have been placed on evacuation order, and another 23,500 people remain on evacuation alert, said Bowinn Ma, minister of emergency management and climate readiness.
More than half of the fire evacuees are in the Kelowna area, where emergency personnel executed a “tactical evacuation” Thursday night, going door to door in areas threatened by the McDougall Creek wildfire, said Ma. The minister called on British Columbians and tourists to avoid the Southern Interior. She also added her voice to a number of officials asking people to heed evacuation orders.
“There is a limited amount of time that people have to escape the property before this too late, and people who choose to ignore evacuation orders, put themselves, and emergency personnel at risk,” said Ma.
As fire records deepen, no state of emergency yet
The latest fires come amid a record year: Canada has smashed national records for burned area, with wildfires scorching more than 14.5 million hectares — more than three times more than any fire season over the past decade.
That's led to devastating fires across all parts of the country, from Nova Scotia to Quebec and Alberta. In the Northwest Territories, the capital Yellowknife is evacuating its more than 20,000 residents, some of whom have been arriving at Vancouver International Airport in recent days.
In B.C., the 2023 wildfire season has also been the biggest in province's recorded history, with more than 1.6 million hectares burned.
In a statement, Premiere David Eby described the wildfire situation as “volatile” and asked people to listen to direction from local authorities.
“We must do our part to make sure emergency workers can do their work and get to where they need to go,” Eby said.
But at least one B.C. opposition politician said the province isn’t doing enough to back communities threatened by wildfire. On Friday, Conservative MLA John Rustad called on the B.C. government to declare a state of emergency
"I am asking Premier Eby and his cabinet to call a state of emergency immediately — British Columbians in Kelowna and West Kelowna cannot afford any further delays,” said Rustad in a statement
Rustad said declaring a state of emergency would allow resources to be better marshalled across the province.
When asked why the province hadn’t yet declared a state of emergency, Ma said, “So far, we have the tools we need, but that can change very quickly.”
“And that is one of the reasons why we are gearing up to be able to go into a formal declaration or provincial state of emergency if required,” she added.
Local firefighters face worst conditions of their careers
On Thursday night, the McDougall Creek wildfire led to the evacuation of nearly 2,500 properties with another 4,800 on evacuation alert a warning about a potential threat to life and/or property
In the darkness, fire was seen burning several homes in the West Kelowna area. Farther out of town, photos taken during the day show the Lake Okanagan Resort devastated by fire.
Firefighters from across the province — from Metro Vancouver, Vancouver Island and the Interior — have descended on the region, coordinating their efforts to get people out of the way and save as many homes as they can.
In a press conference Friday morning, emergency management operators said it wasn’t clear how many structures had been lost but that it appeared “significant.” An RCMP spokesperson said units will be setting up road blocks and carrying out roving patrols to ensure nobody remains in the in the path of the fire or the people trying to contain it.
West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund said the fire Thursday night was unlike anything he had ever seen. Brolund said first responders were trapped after they went to rescue people who chose to stay behind.
“It was one of the most challenging nights of firefighting in our history,” said Brolund.
“We fought a 100 years worth of fires all in one night.”
Brolund, who described some of the destruction as “gut-wrenching,” noted that crews were able to protect important infrastructure, including the dam, chlorinator, and newly built water treatment plant feeding the city.
“We need to stop this fire before it continues any further,” Brolund said.
Friday morning, a severe thunderstorm watch was issued for the Central and North Okanagan. Brolund said winds are expected to pick up and that crews were preparing for another challenging day.
As Regional District of Central Okanagan chair Loyal Woolridge put it, the city is far from “out of the woods.”
“Last night could very well be a preview of what's to come over the coming days,” he said.
